How many of us carry our stress in our shoulders? We go about our average, busy day with our shoulders gradually levitating up towards our earlobes. If that’s not bad enough, we walk into our Tai Chi class with the intention of relaxing while we are learning to be mentally, physically, and spiritually healthy. However, do you know that the majority of students (particularly the beginning ones) continue to keep their shoulders elevated!
When practicing Tai Chi, the shoulders should be naturally rounded and lowered - like you are a shirt hanging on a hanger or flesh hanging on bones. It’s extremely important that the elbows not be raised.
The Tai Chi Classics remind us to relax our shoulders with our elbows pointing down. When your elbows stick out and/or your joints are tense, your breathing and Qi energy rise, your breath becomes shallow, and your entire body tenses. Not only does your body become stiff, it also makes it easy for your opponent to pull or push you off balance. Even if you are not practicing the martial aspects of Tai Chi and don’t have an opponent, you become “off balance”.
The Shoulders
Because of the muscles and tendons, your shoulder joints are the most mobile joints in the body. In fact, the shoulder “relies on muscles, more than any other joint” in the body. According to Great Grand Master Kellen Chia, the shoulders should be hung downward and relaxed but a little forward so as to “make the chest slightly concave.” The wrists should be in front of the shoulders. The shoulders are loose and the wrists are straight. Qi will then flow from the upper extremities into the Dantian. The internal strength comes from between the shoulder blades which generates power during Tai Chi practice.
When the shoulders are raised, the muscles in the shoulders, as well as the upper back and neck, will become stiff. This will inhibit the mobility of the arms, cause loss of power, and diminish Qi flow to the hands.
The Elbows
According to Master Jesse Tsao, author of Practical Tai Chi Training, we need to be careful not to lock our elbows or to bend them too low. If the elbows are too bent or too straight, Qi flow will be reduced. Do not extend the elbows out to 180 degrees nor bend them “to close to 90 degrees”.
The elbows should be weighted downward suspended between the shoulders and the wrists. The elbow drops towards the center of gravity by paying attention to the back (the elbow is borne by the spine). Master Tsao suggests extending the hand and dropping the elbow “between the endpoints of the hand and shoulder like a rope bridge”. When the shoulders are lowered, and elbows are dropped energy flows down to the elbows, and then out through the hands.
The elbow should also be slightly curved in Tai Chi so that Qi can move freely between the shoulder and the hand. This also helps us to maintain upper extremity flexibility. The extension of your arm should match your stance. It should also not go beyond your front knee!
Elbow problems can negatively affect hand and wrist function, as well as execution of Tai Chi movements. If your elbow is raised, it should usually be lower than your hand. It is vital that the elbows remain below shoulder-level or the muscles in the shoulder will tense and back muscles will over-stretch. This also will interrupt the flow of Qi through the body and the upper extremities. When our elbows are at the correct angle, power is transferred to the hand(s), the shoulders will remain relaxed, and large amounts of Qi will be allowed to flow.
Having a space under the armpits is important so that Qi can flow freely through the shoulder joints and down the arms, allowing the power to circulate smoothly throughout the body. I love an alternative way to say the same thing that I recently came across - always have ‘air under the wings’.
This space should be about the size of an egg, small ball, or simply put: a space about an inch and a half wide. If the underarms touch the torso, three things happen: the shoulder joint closes, flexibility is reduced, and the flow of Qi to the upper extremities is restricted. According to Master Tsao, some Tai Chi Masters in China put an egg under their students arm pit. The egg must not drop nor be broken! Now that’s a challenge!!!
A Different Goal - Improving the appearance of your Tai Chi
If your desire is not only to improve your Tai Chi but to improve the appearance, be sure to do the following:
Relax and round your shoulders,
Sink your elbows,
Smooth your wrists,
Maintain a curve in your arm when extending it,
Never straighten your arm completely,
And one more time: Don’t raise your shoulders!
Here are a few quotes from the Tai Chi Classics:
“The postures should be without defect,
without hollows or projections from the proper alignment;”
“Stand like a perfectly balanced scale and
move like a turning wheel.”
“The upright body must be stable and comfortable
to be able to sustain an attack from any of the eight directions.”
A note about the Classics: They were not “training manuals” but a set of Tai Chi guidelines regarding the underlying principles and concepts. While the Classics are considered “short and concise”, they are also pretty abstract and were often written in poetic language.
Bottom line: Drop your shoulders and elbows. Doing so is going to improve your energy flow and decrease (or eliminate) upper body stiffness whether in class or going about your day!
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